Chandigarh, July 25
Deliver, or be prepared to appear in the court with an explanation — the Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear to the powers that be in Punjab and Haryana.

Taking up the traffic regulation case, Justice Rajive Bhalla warned not only Panchkula Superintendent of Police, but also a secretary in the Punjab Government to act or come prepared to face the consequences.

Virtually passing strictures on the Panchkula SP for his inability to prevent traffic jams in Pinjore and Kalka, the High Court asked him to ensure free flow of traffic or remain present in the court with an explanation.

Also taking cognizance of unauthorised parking of vehicles along the roadside in Zirakpur, Justice Bhalla rapped the state and the police on its knuckles.

Justice Bhalla asserted: “It is rather surprising that despite repeated orders passed by this court, no bus stop has been provided in Zirakpur and buses continue to off-load passengers on the national highway, thereby jeopardising the safety of the passengers and the travelling public.

“Neither the police nor the State of Punjab appears to be concerned about this menace. The State of Punjab is directed to file an appropriate response, failing which the secretary concerned shall be present in person.”

In his detailed order, Justice Bhalla also directed the Zirakpur municipal council and the PWD department to “ensure that no unauthorised cuts are made in the service lane”

Going back to the issue of jams, Justice Bhalla added: “The spring posts placed in the middle of the road in Pinjore and Kalka have proved to be ineffective. The National Highways Authority of India and the concessionaires are directed to ensure that a permanent divider is placed in place of the spring posts, but with suitable openings.

“The recurring traffic jams in Pinjore and Kalka disclose the ineffective manner in which the traffic is being regulated in these cities.

“The SP, Panchkula, appears to be unconcerned about the plight of the travelling public…. Additional affidavit by Vikram Sharda, advocate-petitioner, filed in the court is taken on record. A perusal of the affidavit reveals that despite orders passed by this court that the vehicles shall not be parked on the side of the highways, and the police having installed no parking signs, a large number of vehicles are parked in front of the Pinjore Garden.

“The SP, Panchkula, is directed to take immediate action to ensure that no vehicle is parked on the sides of the highway.

Hoarding trouble for politicians

Political top bosses smiling through the hoardings are in trouble, apparently. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the State of Punjab to file an affidavit on the legality of hoardings. Justice Rajive Bhalla asserted: “The State of Punjab is further directed to file an affidavit with respect to the legality of hoardings put up by political leaders, parties and commercial organisations on the berms or land abutting the national/state highways, municipal roads. etc. These hoardings have been put up in gross violation of the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and the earlier directions issued by this court.

Chandigarh, July 25
Blaring music may soon be a thing of the past in Chandigarh. For, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the states of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh to instruct manufacturers not to produce equipment with audio levels beyond the permissible limit. The directions came during the resumed hearing of a public interest litigation arising out of a suo motu notice taken by the court on a letter written by a Punjab-based resident.

He had claimed that the entire neighbourhood had to suffer from noise pollution as the authorities were doing little to keep a check on the menace. The court asked the counsels appearing on behalf of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh to seek instructions from the authorities concerned and direct the manufacturers not to produce equipment like loudspeakers with audio levels beyond the permissible limit.

Chandigarh, July 25
A local court here today committed the Khushpreet murder case for sessions trial. The case has been forwarded to the court of district and sessions judge SK Goel, who will further list the case before the appropriate Bench on Tuesday.

Last month, the UT police had filed a chargesheet against the prime accused, Sukhdev Singh, a resident of Burail, his brother Gurvinder and their servant Nand Kishore in a case of murder under Section 302 of the IPC.

The brutal kidnapping and murder case that rocked the city was cracked with the arrest of the two brothers on March 22.

The accused lived in the vicinity of the victim’s house and had planned his kidnapping to tide over their financial liabilities.

Khushpreet, a kindergarten student and son of a dairy owner, was kidnapped on December 21 near his house in Burail.

The family, which informed the police within a couple of hours of the crime, bemoaned that the casual attitude of the police had resulted in the escape of kidnappers with the ransom amount of Rs 4 lakh from a police trap on December 23. The boy’s body was recovered on January 5 near a pit in Mohali.

Panchkula, July 25
A local court today granted bail to Gymkhana Club manager SK Kaushal and co-accused Virender in connection with a graft case. The court directed the accused to furnish a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh each.

Kaushal had stated in
his bail plea that he was being falsely implicated in the case. Virender had pleaded that he had
not played the role of middleman, as alleged by vigilance staff. He had added that his name
was not mentioned in the complaint filed with the Haryana vigilance department.

The Haryana vigilance team arrested Kaushal and Virender from the club at Sector 6 here on July 7. Kaushal was allegedly demanding a bribe from swimming pool contractor Harjit Singh.

The Haryana Urban Development Authority had later terminated the service of Kaushal and formed a committee to conduct a fact-finding inquiry into the episode.

Mohali, july 25
The special state crime branch filed a charge sheet in the citrus scam case against seven suspects, Chimni, Gurpreet Nain, Madhumita Nain, Rajinder, Viipin Saini, Gurdas
and Alkam, in a local court here today.

While the first five mentioned above were in
judicial custody, no proceedings had been initiated against the others so far.

Samul contributed five goals in the victory of GMHS-36 team over their opponents by scoring 6-0.

Samul drew the first blood in the third minute followed by goals in sixth, 8th, 18th and 32nd minutes of the game. Gopi sealed the team’s victory in the 42nd minute of
the game.

The team after winning the match qualified for the Subroto Cup Mukerjee Football Tournament to be held in New Delhi in September.

In the final match of Pre- Subroto Mukerjee Football (U-14) category, St. John High School, Sector 26, defeated Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 22, by 4-0, to qualify for the main tournament. Krishna scored two goals for the team whereas, Robin and Deepak scored one goal each for the team.

On other hand, in the Pre-Nehru Hockey Tournament for Girls(U-17), Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 37, defeated Shivalik Public School, Sector 41, by an undefeatable margin of 9-0 whereas in the girls (U-15) category, Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 37, defeated Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 46, by 3-0 in the knockout stage of the tournament.

Number of teams goes up from two to three
Deepankar Sharda
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 25
After facing criticism for organising a hockey tournament with just two teams, the UT Education Department is now organising the same tournament in the girls category with just three teams.

For organising any tournament, the rules say that minimum eight teams should participate in the competition, however according to the officals here, even two teams are enough to compete in a qualifying competition.

The department is organising the Pre-Nehru Hockey Championship for Girls (U-15) with just three teams whereas in the Girls (U-17) category only five teams are participating.

The Pre-Nehru Hockey Championship, which is a pass to play in the national-level Jawhar Lal Nehru Hockey Championship held in Delhi every year has witnessed low participation in both the boys and girls category.

“It is not possible that only three teams are playing in the knockout stage, the tournament must be at a league stage. If it is playing at the knockout stage, then I will dicuss the matter with the state sports organiser ”, said Raj Hans, DPI, schools, who was unaware of the fact that the tournament was being played in the knockout stage. Adding further he said, “I was also a player, and know all the rules.”

“As earlier I had said that this was a qualifying tournament and two teams were enough to compete for the title”, said the state sports organizer, PS Brar. The participation in the inter-school tournaments had got a good response.

Notably, even after appointing sufficient staff in different government schools of the city, the organisers failed to get a good response in terms of participation.

“The game needs a lot of infrastructure, varying from professional coaches to astroturf fields. The tournament is being organised by the UT education department and at least the government schools in the city must participate actively in it ”, said an official.

“There is no use of organising the tournament with just two or three teams. The authorities instead of conducting such tournaments should conduct trails for selecting the team. There is a need for proper planning” said YP Vohra, general secretary, Chandigarh Hockey Association.

Even in the Football Pre-Subroto Cup, 13 teams participated in the U-14 category but in the U-17 group, only nine teams participated in the tournament.